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JUN  .  J  1919 


WILL  CARLETON 


By  BYRON  A.  FINNEY 

REFERENCE  LIBRARIAN  EMERITUS.  UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN 


Revised  from  Michigan  Historical  Collections,  vol.  39,  and  reprinted  from  the 
Michigan  History  Magazine  for  October,  1917 


LANSING 
MICHIGAN  HISTORICAL  COMMISSION 


Will  Carleton,  Michigan's  Poet^ 

By  a  Boyhood  Friend,  Byron  A.  Finney 
Ann  Abbob 

WILL  CARLETON,  whose  writings  have  for  many  years 
endeared  him  to  the  peoj)le  of  this  State  as  Michigan's 
representative  poet,  was  born  October  21,  1845,  on  the 
sixty-acre  farm  where  the  old  homestead  still  stands,  two  miles 
east  of  the  village  of  Hudson,  Lenawee  County,  near  the  south- 
ern boundary  of  the  State,  on  the  line  of  the  Lake  Shore  and 
Michigan  Southern  Railroad. 

Mr.  Carleton's  parents,  John  Hancock  and  Celestia  E.  Smith 
Carleton,  were  pioneer  settlers  in  Hudson  Township.  His 
ancestry  was  English,  through  New  Hampshire.  In  their  re- 
ligious opinions  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carleton  were  ardent 
Methodists,  and  Mr.  Carleton  was  class-leader  in  the  village 
Methodist  Episcopal  church  for  many  years,  until  his  death 
in  1872  at  tlie  age  of  seventy.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling  pro- 
bity, somewhat  austere  in  manner,  much  liked  and  respected 
in  the  community. 

Young  Will  grew  up  in  the  strictness  of  the  faith,  but 
became  quite  liberal  in  after  years.  From  the  time  of  his 
marriage  in  1882  he  was  more  associated  with  the  Free  Will 
Baptist  denomination,  in  the  missionary  work  of  which  Mrs. 
Carleton  was  quite  active.  He  was  one  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
college  of  that  denomination  at  Hillsdale  from  1887  until  his 
death. 

Tlie  writer  of  the  present  paper  has  liad  some  special  oppor- 
tunity for  this  task — though  for  him  it  is  not  a  task — for  he 
grew  up  with  Carleton  as  a  boyhood  and  school  companion, 
and  the  intimacy  of  friendship  was  only  interrupted  through 

■A  paper  read  at  the  midwinter  meeting  of  the  IMichigun  State  Pioneer  and 
Historical  Society  at  Port  Huron,  February  6,  1914.  Reprinted  from  Vol.  39 
of  the  Michigan  Historical  Collections. 

(1) 


392636 


2  Byron  A.  Fixxey 

his  whole  lifetime  by  the  varying  circumstances  of  separated 
occupations  and  residence. 

By  the  marriage  of  Will's  elder  sister,  Mary  Ann,  to  my 
uncle,  Addison  N.  Kidder,  of  Hudson,  we  boys  were  thrown 
into  close  relationship  from  the  time  when  he  was  thirteen 
years  of  age  and  I  was  ten. 

My  home  was  in  the  village  and  his  was  the  old  homestead, 
two  miles  directly  east  of  Hudson,  and  in  the  interchange  of 
our  boyish  visits  I  slept  many  a  night  with  him  in  the  old 
house  out  of  which  ''Nancy"  moved  "into  the  new."  The  "old" 
was  a  log  house,  which  became  a  wing  when  the  frame  upright 
was  built.  The  log  wing  was  afterward  replaced  by  a  frame 
one,  as  it  stands  today. 

This  comradeship  was  kept  up  during  our  school  life  in  the 
village  of  Hudson  to  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  walking 
daily  to  school  in  good  weather,  the  round  trip  from  the  school- 
house  making  about  five  miles  a  day.  Until  he  passed  the 
grade  of  instruction  which  it  gave  he  went  to  the  school  on  the 
east  side  of  the  village,  which  was  nearer  his  home.  During 
the  winter  of  1862-3  he  roomed  during  the  school  days  of  the 
week  at  the  home  of  an  elder  sister,  Almira  (Mrs,  Heman 
Goodrich),  near  the  Union  school  on  the  west  side.  There 
many  an  evening  did  I  study  with  him  and  help  him  in  his 
Latin  which  I  had  begun  before  him.  Another  schoolmate, 
Alonzo  B.  Bragdon,  who  has  been  a  practicing  attorney  in 
Monroe  for  many  years  and  is  now  city  attorney  under  the 
new  commission,  took  turns  with  me,  in  this  same  pleasure. 

Carleton  went  to  Hillsdale,  in  1862 ;  then  went  out  to  teach, 
returning  to  college  in  1865.  I  followed,  entered  there  in  the 
fall  of  the  same  year.  We  were  always  chums  and  during 
the  second  year  roomed  together  in  the  west  wing  of  the 
college  building,  which,  above  the  first  floor,  was  a  dormitory 
for  men  students.  During  this  period,  when  he  was  not  study- 
ing, writing  or  blowing  a  horn  (he  organized  and  led  the  college 
band,  and  played  the  E-b  cornet,  and  played  it  strong,  too),  he 
was  practicing  his  poetry  on  me.    I  didn't  hesitate  to  criticize 


WILL  CAKLETOX 


Taken   in   liis  old   home   noar   Iluds  >n.   Michi 
1902,   ihiiiiii;   tlic  Carloton   Iloine-coniing. 


;au.   ou   his   birtlulay,   October  '20, 


Will  Carleton  .  3 

it  either,  but  found  out  afterwards  that  he  was  working  me 
for  that  frank  criticism. 

As  there  has  been  some  question  as  to  the  date  when  Carleton 
first  went  to  Hillsdale  College,  I  will  quote  from  a  letter  of 
his  to  Mr.  Bragdon,  under  date  of  August  18,  1910 : 

''Yes,  I  entered  Hillsdale  in  '65,  and  graduated  in  '69.  My 
'preparation'  was  a  fragmentary  and  tempestuous  one — full 
of  fights,  follies,  frolics  and  phantasies — but  with  a  steady 
determination  under  them  all,  to  'get  there.'  I  read  every 
book  I  could  buy  or  borrow,  believed  what  I  wanted  of  them, 
laughed  at  the  rest,  and  went  on  'swimming  through  the  dew- 
drops.'  I  saw  a  good  deal  of  Finney,  and  was  diverted  from 
solider  pursuits  by  his  confounded  dramatic  hunches,  which, 
however,  did  me  a  lot  of  good  afterward.  I  fell  in  and  asso- 
ciated with  you — which  was  an  education  in  itself. . ." 

The  poems  which  Carleton  had  written  during  his  college 
course  and  shortly  after  were  gathered  into  a  small  volume 
and  published  by  the  Lakeside  Publishing  Company,  Chicago, 
in  1871.  They  attracted  little  attention;  not  so  much,  perhaps, 
as  one  which  had  not  been  included  in  the  volume.  This  was  a 
political,  satirical  poem,  which  was  delivered  by  its  author  at 
Eepublican  mass-meetings  during  the  Presidential  campaign 
of  1868.  It  was  quite  popular,  and  was  published  in  pamphlet 
form  under  the  title,  "Fax." 

While  in  school  Carleton  had  been  contributing  items  and 
"write-up"  notices  to  the  newspapers,  with  the  fixed  idea  of 
taking  up  journalism  for  a  life  work,  and  during  the  first 
three  years  after  graduation  he  was  connected  with  theWestern 
Rural.  Chicago,  the  Hillsdale  Standard,  and  the  Detroit 
Wcclli/  TrihiDic.  It  was  during  this  time,  eav\j  in  1871,  that 
his  poem  "Betsey  and  I  Are  Out"  appeared  in  the  Toledo 
Blade.^ 

It  was  copied  all  over  the  country  and  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  New  York  publishers,  Harper  &  Brothers,  who  gave  it  a 
prominent  page,  with  illustration,  in  Harpet^s  Weekly.'-    They 

'March  17,  1S71. 
=May  27,  1871. 


4  Byron  A.  Finney 

followed  this  with  several  other  of  his  poems,  taken  from  the 
Detroit  Tribune,  or  written  for  Harper's  Weekly,  under  the 
series  title  of  "Farm  Ballads."  This  was  the  beginning  of  their 
popular  volumes  of  his  "Ballads,"  "Legends,"  and  "Festivals." 

From  this  period  Carleton  devoted  himself  to  authorship  and 
the  lecture  platform,  and  became  known  to  the  country  at  large, 
as  w^ll  as  to  Michigan,  as  the  poet-spokesman  of  the  farmer 
and  the  everyday  citizen.  He  could  not  resist  entirely  the  jour- 
nalistic call,  and  in  1894  established  a  family  magazine.  Every 
Where,  published  monthly  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  which  he 
conducted  for  nearly  twenty  years,  until  his  death. ^  To  this 
magazine  he  contributed  many  prose  articles,  and  a  poem 
regularly  to  each  issue. 

Of  his  early  period  of  aspiration  Mr.  Carleton  gives  some 
interesting  reminiscences,  in  an  article  which  he  contributed 
to  Lipplncott's  Magazine  for  April  1887  (39:670-6),  entitled 
"Experiences  of  a  Public  Lecturer,"  from  whicli  I  quote: 

"My  lecturing  efforts  began  at  home,  upon  my  father's  farm. 
Having  succeeded  in  hearing  two  or  three  good  speakers  who 
had  visited  our  little  neighboring  village,  I  decided  straightway 
that  forensic  effort  was  to  be  part  of  my  life-business.  So  the 
sheep  and  cattle  were  obliged  to  hear  various  emotional  opin- 
ions on  subjects  of  more  or  less  importance,  and  our  steeds  of 
the  plough  enjoyed  a  great  many  comfortable  rests  between 
furrows  in  order  to  'assist'  at  my  oratorical  displays.  One  of 
them  persisted  in  always  going  to  sleep  before  the  discourse 
was  finished — a  custom  that  is  not  obsolete  even  among  his 
human  superiors. 

"The  first  lecture-course  of  this  series  came  to  an  end  quite 
suddenly;  for  my  shrewd,  hard-headed  New-England  father 
began  to  suspect  that  agriculture  was  being  sacrificed  to  elo- 
quence. So  he  appeared  unexpectedly  in  the  audience  during 
a  matinee,  and  told  me  he  had  heard  most  of  the  harangue,  and 
that  he  feared  I  was  spoiling  a  tolerably  good  farmer  to  become 
an  intolerably  bad  orator.     Though  of  a  kindly,  generous  dis- 

'Dec.  18,  1912. 


Will  Carleton  5 

position,  he  could  throw  into  his  less  gracious  words  a  great 
deal  of  sarcasm  to  the  square  inch,  and  the  lecturer  of  the 
afternoon,  crushed  but  not  convinced,  wakened  the  off-horse 
and  thoughtfully  drove  his  plough  towards  the  blue  woods  at 
the  other  end  of  the  furrow. 

"It  is  a  pleasant  memory  that  my  father  lived  to  see  me  earn- 
ing a  hundred  dollars  a  night  and  admitted,  with  a  grave 
twinkle  in  his  eye,  that,  having  looked  the  matter  over  from  a 
non-agricultural  stand-point,  he  had  concluded  there  was  more 
in  me  than  he  had  supposed. 

"But  in  those  boy-days  both  lecturing  and  literature  de- 
veloped very  slowly.  How  was  I  to  get  audiences,  either  for 
pen  or  voice?. .  .There  seemed  little  hope  for  a  beginner. 

"But  the  great  secret  of  commencing  is  to  commence  where 
one  can.  During  my  course  in  college  it  appeared  that  several 
small  towns  in  the  country  which  could  not  afford  expensive 
lectures  wanted  and  would  pay  for  something  to  amuse  them 
for  an  evening;  that  there  existed  among  tliese  people  a  class 
who  were  tired  of  burnt-cork  and  sleight-of-hand  shows,  and 
wanted  something  which  professed  to  be  intellectual ;  and  so  I 
'did'  all  the  neighboring  hamlets  that  I  could  induce  to  hear 
me.  The  financial  advantage  was  not  bewildering,  and  gen- 
erally consisted  of  half  the  net  proceeds.  After  the  door- 
keeper had  his  percentage,  and  the  sexton  his  guerdon,  and 
the  printer  his  dues,  and  the  bill-poster  his  back-pay,  the  half 
of  what  was  left  was  almost  as  much  as  the  whole  of  it  (al- 
though even  then  perhaps  worth  as  much  as  the  entertain- 
ment). 

"But  the  practice  of  meeting  audiences  of  all  descriptions 
has  proved  invaluable  ever  since.  Declaiiniug  -upon  the  sea- 
shore would  have  been  a  tender,  miljl  sort  o|j.d^^^pline\om- 
pared  to  it.  Mothers  brought  their  bjft^%ia^<fe^eyicpi^ted 
with  me  for  a  hearing;  coughs  and  Wieezes  aii^  clearings  of 
husky  throats  were  seldom  suppressed  ;^  i^d  iuost  ot  Ji^  cheer- 
ing, if  done  at  all,  came  from  the  leather-clad'palm  of  the 
foot,  rather  than  from  the  softly  sonorous  surface  of  the  hand. 


6  Bykon  a.  Finney 

But  these  country-people  had  as  good  hearts  and  as  healthy 
brains  as  can  be  found  in  city  or  university,  and  I  always  went 
away  in  love  with  mj-  audience.  'You  have  let  considerable 
light  into  this  district,'  said  one  bright-eyed  farmer  boy;  'and 
you've  started  me  on  the  up-track.'  My  payment  for  that 
evening's  work  was  five  dollars  and  a  half  in  money,  and  a 
compliment  estimated  at,  at  least,  a  million  dollars.  The 
rough,  homespun  fellow  who  gave  it  may  not  read  this,  for  he 
has  gone  on  into  the  Great  Unknown ;  but  he  holds  an  earthly 
residence  in  at  least  one  heart. 

''My  resources  from  the  platform  slowly  increased,  and  finally 
resulted  in  enough  to  pay  a  fair  portion  of  the  expenses  of  a 
college  course.  Soon  after  graduation,  I  began  to  receive  calls 
from  various  towns  in  the  State,  which  were  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  me  through  my  literary  work.  This  soon  ex- 
tended to  adjoining  states,  and  so  all  over  this  country  and 
England,  and  gave  me  some  very  interesting  experiences,  and 
many  first-class  exhibits  of  human  nature." 

President  J.  W.  Mauck,  of  Hillsdale  College,  who  knew  Cxir- 
leton  well  for  so  many  years,  expressed  the  following  apprecia- 
tion of  him  in  the  Collegian,  the  Hillsdale  College  semi-monthly 
magazine,  for  January  9,  1913 : 

"We  best  knew  him  as  Will  Carleton.  Few  ever  heard  his 
second  name,  McKendree — from  the  bishop  of  the  Methodist 
church,  given  to  him  by  the  parents  of  whose  genuine  faith  and 
life  he  has  spoken  in  tender  filial  terms  in  the  writer's  pres- 
ence. His  graduating  part  in  June,  1869,  was  a  poem  (Rifts 
in  the  Cloud),  whose  merit  President  Fairfield  attested  by 
seizing  a  bouquet  from  the  platform  and  throwing  it  to  the 

young  poet  after  he  had  taken  his  place  with  his  class 

He  was  long  a  trustee  of  the  college,  a  member  of  the  board 
when  he  died,  and  although  he  could  not  regularly  attend  its 
meetings,  he  took  a  lively  interest  in  its  proceedings  and  in  all 
things  that  concerned  the  institution.  He  was  wont  to  exju-ess 
his  gratitude  to  the  college  which,  he  said,  had  befriended  him 


Will  Carleton  7 

at  a  time  wlien  he  could  not  have  gone  far  from  home,  and 
made  possible  for  him  a  better  and  more  fruitful  career. 

"He  was  married  March  2,  1882,  to  Adora  Niles  Goodell,  a 
charming  woman  who  had  served  with  the  highest  efficiency  as 
a  Christian  missionarj-  in  Burmah  and  was  compelled  by  im- 
paired health  to  return  home.  During  her  several  visits  to 
the  college  she  won  the  hearty  esteem  of  all  who  met  her.  They 
lived  most  happily  until  separated  by  death  in  a  peculiarly 
sad  and  sudden  way.  He  had  returned  from  a  lecture  tour 
and  they  were  unusually  buoyant  at  dinner.  She  went  to  her 
room  to  prepare  to  go  with  him  to  a  lecture  when,  attracted 
by  a  fall,  he  hurried  to  her  just  as  she  expired  from  apoplexy. 
Mrs.  Carleton  was  the  founder  of  one  of  the  well-known 
missionary  bands  of  young  women,  and  Mr.  Carleton  liberally 
supported  it  both  before  and  after  her  death.  In  a  measure 
known  to  feAv,  hospitals,  homes  for  the  needy  and  unfortunate 
individuals  found  in  him  a  generous  benefactor  in  material 
aid,  bestowed  in  a  simple  way,  and  enriched  by  an  almost 
prodigal  use  of  his  time  in  personal  calls  and  entertainments. 
In  such  service  he  contributed  as  much  in  the  current  flow  of 
life  as  others  who  have  become  more  widely  known  by  one 
or  a  few  of  the  more  conspicuous  gifts.  A  larger  part  of  his 
somewhat  liberal  income  went  into  such  channels  than  the 

public  kncAv Mr.  Carleton  did  in  effect  'dip  his  pen  in  his 

own  heart  and  wrote  of  the  hopes  and  the  loves  and  the  tears* 
of  humanity.  He  voiced  Avith  fidelity  the  homely  sentiments 
which  are  common  to  all,  but  which  few  can  express,  and  he 
ennobled  those  emotions  which  are  more  vital  than  the  most 
finished  literary  forms  or  highest  intellectual  -reaches.  He 
stirred  the  springs  of  the  saner  emotions,  inspired  men  to 
better  resolves  and  shamed  them  for  their  foibles  and  pre- 
tences." 

Carrying  out  the  idea  of  President  ilauck,  of  Hillsdale  Col- 
lege, it  was  arranged  that  Mr.  Carleton  should  be  present  at 
his  old  home  and  birth  place,  east  of  Hudson,  for  a  ''home- 


8  Byron  A,  Finney 

coming"  on  Saturday,  October  26,  1907,  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  poet's  birthday. 

A  special  train  from  Hillsdale  brought  faculty  and  students, 
and  citizens  from  all  along  the  line.  The  following  towns  were 
represented:  Coldwater,  Quincy,  Hillsdale,  Osseo,  Pittsford, 
Clayton,  Blissfield,  North  Adams,  Reading,  Jonesville,  Hudson, 
Adrian. 

Mayors  and  representative  citizens  brought  resolutions  of 
honor  and  appreciation.  Farmers  located  away  from  the  rail- 
road drove  in  from  many  miles,  and  trains  made  stops  at  the 
farm  house  during  tlie  day. 

The  following  description  of  the  occasion  is  from  the  pen  of 
James  O'Donnell  Bennett  as  reported  in  the  Chicago  Record- 
Eerald  of  Monday,  October  28,  1907 : 

''It  is  a  striking  thing  that  a  farming  region  for  a  radius  of 
fifty  miles  should  pour  out  its  plowmen  and  parsons,  school 
children  and  its  shopkeepers  to  honor  the  man  who  had  taught 
them  that  there  was  poetry  in  every  aspect  of  their  practical 
lives  and  the  sedate  landscape.  Half  a  mile  down  the  highway 
from  the  Carletou  farm  stands  the  stocky,  box-like  little  white 
schoolhouse  where  the  poet  learned  his  three  ''II's."  They  call 
it  now  the  "Carleton  School,"  and  a  portrait  of  him  hangs  on 
the  walls  along  with  one  of  the  president.  A  flag  fluttered  in 
the  doorwa}'.  Great  sprays  of  asparagus  and  red  berries  were 
the  interior  decorations.  To  this  one-story,  one-room  structure, 
which  stands  in  a  lonely  place  at  the  intersection  of  the  roads, 
tlie  pilgrims  repaired  at  9  o'clock.  In  accordance  with  ancient 
district  school  tradition  the  room  was  insufferably  hot,  a  sheet 
iron  stove  working  overtime  in  the  centre  aisle.  On  the  black- 
board in  the  round,  correct  hand  of  the  teacher  were  chalked 
these  words : 

Boys  flying  kites  haul  in  their  white-winged  birds; 
You  can't  do  that  way  when  you're  flying  words. 
Thoughts  unexpressed  may  sometimes  fall  back  dead. 
But  God  Himself  can't  kill  them  when  they're  said." 

The  lines  were  signed  "Carleton." 


AViLL  Carleton  9 

There  was  much  speechifying  at  the  schoolhouse,  which  was 
packed  with  old  friends,  who  were  called  upon  by  President 
Mauck  as  if  they  still  were  school  children.  Mr.  Williams,  now 
the  dignified  Chicago  publisher  in  the  Fine  Arts  Building, 
was  introduced  as  "Little  Jimmy  Williams  who  will  now  speak 
his  piece." 

"Bless  me,  bless  me,"  he  responded  as  he  clambered  on  a 
chair.  "Nobody  has  called  me  that  since  I  was  a  boy  out  here," 
and  he  recalled  how,  when  he  and  Rose  Hartwick  Thorpe, 
author  of  "Curfew  Shall  Not  Ring  To-night,"  were  teaching 
school  together  in  1S69,  he  had  arranged  the  first  programme 
of  public  readings  Will  Carleton  had  ever  presented.  It  was 
for  the  benefit  of  a  fund  to  buy  an  organ  for  the  school.  Mr. 
Carleton,  when  he  mounted  the  chair,  addressed  the  assemblage 
as  follows : 

"Fellow  Pupils,  and  Schoolmaster  and  Boys  and  Girls — I 
look  around  this  room  and  I  pick  out  the  places  where  I  used 
to  sit;  sometimes  it  was  over  by  that  window,  sometimes  there, 
sometimes,  I  grieve  to  say,  on  the  floor  when  I  had  been  bad 
and  was  caught  at  it.  In  a  general  way  I  may  say  that  I 
sought  the  best  place  and  then  held  it  down  as  long  as  I  could. 
I  have  been  trying  to  do  that  in  life  ever  since." 

He  told  how  he  had  been  larruped  by  the  schoolmaster  when 
he  was  detected  writing  a  combination  of  epigram  and  epitaph 
that  should  embalm  the  failings  of  that  long-gone  pedagogue 
and  he  insisted  that  he  never  would  have  been  caught  if  the 
rhyme  for  the  last  line  had  not  stumped  him  and  caused  a 
fatal  delay.  A  baby  began  to  cry  lustily  while  he  was  speaking 
and  there  were  ominous  whispers  from  some  of  the  committee- 
men. "That  kid  was  named  after  me.  Don't  put  him  out.  I 
can  talk  louder  than  he  can.    It's  all  right." 

Then  he  spoke  of  the  old  days  and  he  thought  they  were 
good  days,  "but  those  are  better,"  he  said,  "we  must  not  fondle 
the  past  too  much.  We  want  to  go  forward.  Look  ahead. 
You'll  be  happier  for  it.  Keep  on  the  pilot  of  the  engine  if 
you  can." 


10  Byron  A.  Finney 

Then  he  recited  that  rich,  racy  old  poem  of  his,  "The  School- 
master's Guests,"  and  after  that  the  Pilgrims  trooped  down  the 
highwa}'  to  the  homestead,  where  there  were  more  speeches. 

This  house  is  the  original  of  the  one  Mr.  Carleton  describes 
in  one  of  the  most  affecting  of  his  poems,  "Out  of  the  Old 
House,  Nancy;  Moved  Up  Into  the  New."  He  incorporated 
it  into  the  speech  he  made  from  the  porch.  The  structure  has 
been  enlarged  and  is  now  a  trim,  white  two-story  dwelling 
with  one  ell.  The  old  part  is  the  ell  and  it  bears  its  more 
than  seventy  years  nobly.  There  you  can  see  the  rooms  which 
once  were  one,  for  the  poem  says,  "Kitchen,  bedrooms,  parlor, 
we  had  'em — all  in  one."  Now  there  is  a  telephone  in  the 
doorway  old  chief  Bawbeese  blessed.  An  iron  windmill  clacked 
sarcastically  in  the  yard  while  the  poet  of  the  plain  people  was 
speaking.  The  turf  around  the  house  is  green  and  firm  where 
once  stood  a  virgin  forest.  Barns  and  outhouses  rise  in  the 
rear  of  the  house  and  to-day  farm  wagons  from  all  over  the 
neighborhood  are  bivouacked  there.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  Emmett 
Kies  now  farm  this  place  for  Mr.  Carleton. 

As  he  surveyed  the  throng  around  him  he  said : 

"If  I  were  in  the  habit  of  letting  my  feelings  overcome  me  I 
would  be  crying  now.  If  anybody  else  here  wants  to  cry, 
however,  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  them  at  it.  Dear  neighbors,  I 
don't  know  why  you  should  honor  me  today  as  you  do  by  your 
presence  here.  In  regard  to  this  locality  and  my  relations 
with  it  I  don't  want  to  be  egotistical,  but  I  know  that  is  what 
you  want  me  to  talk  about.  I  had  a  father — a  mighty  good 
one,  too — and  if  it  were  he  whom  you  met  to  honor  you  would 
understand  it.    Maybe  he's  here  today.    I  hope  he  is. 

"My  sweet  mother,  I  used  to  think,  lived  in  two  worlds  at  one 
time,  here  and  in  heaven.  But  her  religion  was  cheery  and 
helpful.  Night  after  night  she  was  with  the  sick — not  as  a 
trained  nurse,  except  as  love  and  duty  and  devotion  trained  her 
— not  as  a  paid  nurse  except  as  God  was  her  pa3'^master. 

"Three  years  ago  my  wife,  who  I  pray  could  have  lived  to  see 
this  day,  went  away  to  a  better  land,  and  on  her  tomb  in 


Will  Carleton  11 

Greenwood  we  carved  the  words,  'She  made  home  her  palace.' 
So  I  stand  here  the  last  of  my  race. 

''Friends,  this  spot  is  very  dear,  very  sacred  to  me.  From 
where  I  stand  the  throne  of  grace  has  been  invoked  not  1,000 
times,  not  5,000  nor  10,000,  but  as  I  compute  it  30,000.  And 
so  I  say  to  you  that  great  influences  are  hovering  here,  teaching 
us  still  that  unless  our  hands  take  hold  on  the  world  above, 
out  feet  can  find  no  firm  foundation  in  this  world  we  inhabit 
here." 

He  closed  by  reciting  "Out  of  the  Old  House,  Nancy,"  for 
them  and  then  there  was  great  handshaking  and  album  signing 
and  good  old-fashioned  visits  and  the  singing  of  "'My  Country, 
'Tis  of  Thee." 

Thus  was  the  poet  of  the  farm  crowned  l)y  the  people  of 
Michigan  with  the  maple  leaves  of  gold  and  scarlet  that  he 
loves.  They  did  it  because  he  has  added  something  to  the 
body  of  poetry  that  all  the  world  knows  and  has  committed  to 
the  heart  of  memory. 

The  Michigan  Pioneer  and  Historical  Society  has  had  oppor- 
tunity to  express  personal  appreciation  of  the  poet  of  the 
pioneers.  In  response  to  a  request  from  the  society,  Mr.  Carle- 
ton  gave  an  address  at  its  annual  meeting  in  Lansing,  on  the 
evening  of  June  8.  1910,  Avhich  was  thus  reported,  in  the 
"State  Kepublican"  this  following  day: 

"Will  Carleton  is  what  some  people  would  call  a  natural 
poet,  in  that  his  poetry  has  nothing  to  do  with  what  he  would 
call  the  'high  falutin'  aspects  of  life.  This  is  the  idea  one 
gets  from  his  poetry  and  that  is  the  idea  that  he  gives  when 
seen  in  person.  His  talk  before  the  Michigan  Pioneer  and 
Historical  societj'  Wednesday  evening  brought  this  year's  ses- 
sion to  a  pleasing  and  fitting  close.  He  talked  of  Michigan 
folks  and  ways  and  recited  several  of  his  Michigan  poems  in 
so  entertaining  a  manner  that  an  uncomfortably  large  audience 
sat,  stood  and  perched  around  the  senate  chamber  for  two 
hours  in  order  to  catch  every  word  he  said. 

"  'I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  talk  before  the  Michigan 


12  Byron  A.  Finney 

Pioneer  and  Historical  society  and  am  well  fitted  to  speak 
abont  the  early  days/  said  Mr.  Carleton.  'I  know  all  about 
the  pioneer  daj^s,  I  know  all  about  the  hardships  of  those 
times  and  I  know  all  about  the  wilderness  and  its  dangers. 
:\ry  father  told  me.'  " 

Mr.  Carleton  went  on  to  tell  about  his  early  experiences  as 
a  pupil  and  a  teacher  in  a  district  school  and  in  the  course 
of  his  talk  recited  such  favorite  selections  from  his  own  works 
as  'Elder  Lamb's  Donation  Party,'  'The  District  School,'  'The 
Old  Log  House,'  and  'Over  the  Hill  to  the  Poor  House,'  to  the 
great  delight  of  his  audience.  Besides  these  he  took  occasion 
to  introduce  some  small  exposition  of  his  philosophy  of  life." 

That  Carleton  had  a  message  for  his  readers,  and  that  he- 
wrote  for  their  sympathy  and  friendship,  is  clearly  seen  in  his 
preface  to  the  "City  Legends"   (1889),  as  follows: 

"It  will  be  noticed  that  these  Legends  are  divided  into  seven 
different  Chains.  Whether  the  links  of  dialogue  and  interlude 
with  which  they  are  connected  be  gold,  silver,  or  base  metal, 
the  author  will  not  say — he  really  does  not  pretend  to  know. 
Whether  the  pendants  of  poems  that  hang  from  them  be  dia- 
monds, pearls,  rubies,  or  worthless  paste,  how  can  he  guaran- 
tee? Literary  jewelry  (if  poetry  may  be  so  called)  depends 
largely  for  its  value  upon  the  eyes  that  gaze  upon  it  and  the 
hearts  that  wear  it. 

The  real  preface  to  this  book  is  formed  by  those  which  have 
preceded  it  from  the  same  author ;  a  like  purpose  actuates  them 
all.  But  he  takes  another  opportunity  to  thank  his  large 
family  of  readers  for  their  continued  faithfulness  and  loyalty, 
and  to  assure  them  that  he  is  still  laboring  to  deserve  their 
respect  and  affection." 
^  Harper's  Weeldy,  in  which  the  early  "Farm  Ballads"  ap- 
peared in  1871,  and  to  which  Carleton  occasionally  contributed 
poems  and  articles  in  prose  throughout  his  life,  has  this  to 
say  of  liim  in  its  nuiuber  for  December  2S.  1012,  the  next  issue 
after  his  death : 

"With  the  passing  of  Will  Carleton,  America  loses  the  most 


Will  Carlbton  13 

popular  of  lier  poets  and  the  one  whose  writings  have  been 
more  widely  read  and  appreciated  than  those  of  any  poet  since 
the  days  of  Whittier  and  Longfellow.  There  is  hardly  an 
English-speaking  home  in  America — it  might  almost  be  said 
in  the  English-speaking  world — where  'Over  the  Hill  to  the 
Poorhouse'  and  'Betsey  and  I  Are  Out'  are  unknown.  Will 
Carleton's  Avorks  still  command  heavy  sales,  and  selections 
from  his  poems  have  long  ago  been  incorporated  into  popular 
anthologies.  As  a  lecturer  Carleton  was  well  known  tlirough- 
out  this  country,  and  if  lie  occupied  a  comparatively  small 
space  in  the  columns  of  the  periodical  press  it  was  because 
he  had  been  known  so  long  that  he  had  been  accepted  as  an 
institution.     He  was  little  discussed  because  he  had  passed 

into  histor}' 

•'Will  Carleton  had  a  happy  knack  of  attr-acting  the  reader 
by  the  simplicity  of  his  themes  and  their  pathetic  or  humorous 
appeal.  His  poem,  'The  Sandalmaker  of  Babylon,'  whicli  ap- 
peared in  Harper's  Weekly  as  long  ago  as  1889,  was  reprinted 
in  this  publication,  by  request,  in  the  issue  of  October  28, 1911." 
To  settle  any  question  as  to  lack  of  cordiality  in  the  relations 
between  Messrs.  Harper  and  Bros,  and  Mr.  Carleton  during 
late  years  on  account  of  his  publications  being  issued  by  the 
Everywhere  Publishing  Co.,  let  me  quote  tlie  following  letter 
received  from  Harper  and  Bros,  under  the  date  of  February  2, 
1914: 
"Dear  Sir : 

''Your  letter  of  the  31st  ultimo  is  at  hand. 
"In  reply,  we  hasten  to  assure  you  that,  as  we  wrote  you,  our 
relations  with  Mr.  Will  Carleton  were  uninterrupted  until  his 
death.  There  was  nothing  but  cordial  feeling  on  both  sides. 
He  was  frank  and  straightforward  in  his  dealings,  honorable 
in  his  business  transactions  and  highly  appreciative  of  similar 
treatment  on  the  part  of  others.  He  had,  we  thought,  a  high 
sense  of  business  honor.  We  hold  him  in  respect,  and  we  be- 
lieve that  he  entertained  the  same  feeling  toward  us. 

''Very  truly  yours, 

"Harper  &  Brothers." 


14  Byron  A.  Finney 

Like  all  great  master  spirits  who  have  risen  above  their 
surroundings  to  stand  as  types  of  their  people  and  to  voice 
their  moods  and  feelings,  their  actuals  and  their  ideals,  Carle- 
ton  was  not  alone  the  embodiment  of  his  own  genius,  but  the 
product  of  his  age  and  environment.  The  farmer-pioneers 
needed  a  voice  to  sing  the  exaltation  of  their  homely  life — and 
he  responded.  From  their  own  body  came  the  singer,  with 
their  heart-throbs  bursting  into  song. 

Michigan  should  not,  and  shall  not,  forget  her  poet.  In 
Monroe  County  we  have  named  a  village  after  him,  and  there 
are  "Carleton"  reading  clubs.  Though  the  farmer  pioneers 
shall  pass  away,  their  children  and  their  children's  children 
will  cherish  the  memory  of  him  who  sang  their  struggles  and 
their  aspirations.  It  will  be  the  good  fortune  of  the  school 
children  of  Michigan,  of  whom  Carleton  was  one,  to  hold  dear 
the  memory,  and  to  honor  the  example,  of  the  poet  who  proved 
the  value  of  an  education  and  devoted  it  to  the  service  of  his 
fellow  people. 


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